Lake Rescue (11 page)

Both swung back to the ground, but Billy wouldn’t even look at Avery as she did a little victory dance. His face was still red, but not from the effort of climbing.

Nash joined them at the bottom. “Campers, were you racing?” he asked. Pause. “Well, yeah,” Avery said hesitantly. “Is that against the rules? Nobody said anything,” she said hurriedly.

Nash answered firmly, “We don’t race on the wall at Lake Rescue, Avery. I can see that you and Billy have had training, but most of our climbers are inexperienced and racing is too dangerous for them. So concentrate on technique and keep safety first, people. No more racing,” he admonished. Avery looked a bit sheepish and went to say something to Billy. But he had turned and walked away.

“I guess I can’t win your dessert now, Charlotte,” joked Nick.

“I don’t bet on things I have never done before,” Charlotte
answered. “And this is my first time climbing for real.”

“Well, good luck then.” Nick flashed her a smile and began climbing.

Surprising herself, Charlotte made it up the wall fairly easily. She had never done anything like that before. Pushing aside her fear, she just inched up and up and up, not looking down, until she touched the top ledge where Nash knelt waiting for her. She slapped Nash’s hand, then rapelled back down to solid ground.

“Wasn’t that fun?” Avery patted Charlotte on the back. “I wish we could do it again. What’s next?”

“Sitting, and waiting until everyone else is finished,” said Charlotte. She then settled onto a big rock, letting the sun warm her face.

When it was Chelsea Briggs’ turn, no one was willing to spot her. Charlotte felt just terrible for Chelsea, whose face was unreadable. When John, one of the other counselors, realized that none of the campers was going to offer to help Chelsea, he quickly stepped in. Most of the kids probably thought that they wouldn’t be able to belay someone her size. Charlotte knew there was no way she could help Chelsea out.

With John below guiding her, Chelsea climbed slowly and carefully. She was clearly strong. But lifting her own weight as she reached and grabbed for the grip, then pulled herself up, was turning out to be difficult.

After three missteps where she swung away from the wall, then back, trying to find another place to hold on, she called down. “I can’t do it; I just can’t.” Charlotte could see that she was right on the verge of crying, but was doing everything in her power to hold it in. Katani, who had been watching
Chelsea intently, felt for her classmate. Katani thought she would have died of embarrassment if that had been her.

Slowly, John lowered Chelsea to the bottom and helped her unhook her harness. Chelsea’s cheeks were stained bright red. After pulling off her helmet, she went to lean on a big rock. Charlotte saw that her legs were shaking.

Maeve leaned into Charlotte. “That was awful. Chelsea must be so embarrassed.”

“Good try, Chelsea,” Isabel called to her. Isabel was the only one who dared approach Chelsea. “I almost gave up after falling once. I would have totally given up if Nick hadn’t cheered me on.”

Nick Montoya was helping everyone, and he really seemed to like doing it, thought Charlotte. Nick would make a great camp counselor—he almost looked like one because he was so tall.

When the Yurtmeister looked down and began freaking out at how high he was, Nick yelled up to him, “Hey! President Yurt…got a minute?”

The Yurtmeister broke out laughing and made it all the way to the top.

Nick caught Charlotte watching him. She was sure her cheeks turned bright pink, but Nick just gave her a wave and turned back to a girl he was coaching. He hadn’t made her feel dorky at all.

“Okay, fifteen-minute break,” Jody called. “There’s lemonade, water, and oranges under the tree. Got to keep your energy up.”

“Energy up? Miss Drill Sergeant is going to kill us all off on the first day,” Katani whispered to Isabel.

Charlotte chewed some orange slices, then sat on a flat rock where the BSG had all sprawled. “Did anyone bring sunscreen? I left mine in my bunk.”

Maeve handed Charlotte a big tube of sun block. “Without it, I’d look like a big tomato by evening…with about a thousand more freckles.”

“Does anyone know what’s next?” Avery tossed back the rest of her water.

“Who knows?” Katani grinned. “Just try not to embarrass Billy again, Avery. I think you might have hurt his feelings.”

“Hey, he’s the one who always wants to race, and I’m already up by one dessert,” Avery defended herself. Then she ran to get a handful of the orange slices to take with them as Jody signaled the end of break.

“Isn’t it great not to be sitting in school right now?” asked Avery as they all walked to the next activity. The BSG nodded in agreement.

“What?” Betsy Fitzgerald had heard Avery’s comment. “You don’t miss school?” She looked at her watch. “We’d be in Ms. O’Reilly’s class right now,” she moaned. “But I suppose we are learning…”

“Wow, look at that.” Maeve pointed. “I saw something like that on ‘The Amazing Race,’ although it was a lot higher and longer.”

Between two platforms was a natural ravine. The idea was to grab hold of a trapeze bar, hold on for dear life, then slide to the lower platform.

“This is called the Flying Fox. I’m sure what you’ll be doing here is obvious,” Mia, the blond, peppy counselor explained. “Besides, it’s not as hard as it looks, and falling off
will be worse than holding tight and enjoying the ride,” she joked. There really was no way that anyone could crash into the ravine because they were so securely fastened into a harness. Even if the harness broke, a second line would kick in. Still, it was a long way down.

“It does look like fun, doesn’t it?” Charlotte got in line, close to the beginning.

“Speak for yourself,” Chelsea murmured. She stationed herself next to the platform, ready to get some action shots. Suddenly, she decided the other side would be better, since she could see the faces of those coming toward her. So she hurried over the small bridge to the far platform, two camera cases dangling from her shoulder.

“She’s going to take photos and hope no one notices she’s not on the torture device,” Isabel whispered.

“Good idea.” Maeve grimaced. “I wish I’d have brought a camera.”

As soon as Charlotte saw how much speed Billy Trentini picked up, she was ready to go ask Chelsea if she needed someone to hold her camera bag. She pushed Avery in front of her.

Avery waited until Nash placed a harness around her. If you slipped off the bar, the harness would catch you, but you’d have to be pulled slowly back to the top platform. Betsy had done that twice, then begged off, close to tears. She might get an E for effort, but no A for achievement on this activity.

Avery looked at Charlotte and grinned. “Watch this.” She leaped off the platform, swinging her legs in front of her for momentum. To her surprise, she came way short of the far platform. What had happened? Was she too short to gain any speed?

Avery looked down, which had to be scary. She wasn’t going to fall because of the harness, but the view was enough to make even “Her Braveness” swallow quickly a couple of times. Charlotte was breathing hard just watching. Billy Trentini stood at the far platform and looked on.

“Hang on, Avery. Hang on. Go back, try again. You can do it. I know you can.” Well, that was a switch. The “competition thing” was gone. Billy was actually trying to help Avery.

After being pulled back on the other platform, Avery took a deep breath. She had to try again. Avery straightened her shoulders and took another leap. She swung her feet forward, but kept them still. This time she landed on the far ledge. She almost fell backwards, but Billy and John grabbed the bar to steady Avery and help her off just at the right moment. Billy raised his hand for a high five. Charlotte couldn’t see Avery’s face, but she slapped Billy’s hand and slinked away.

From watching Avery, Charlotte knew this would not be easy. She got rigged up, grabbed the bar, and swung off the platform, not hesitating, not looking down. The wind swept her hair back. Her knuckles turned white. Her heart pounded as she picked up speed. Forcing her legs to stay ahead of her, she landed, leaned forward, and grabbed John’s hand.

“Well done, Charlotte. Want to go again?” John asked.

She almost said yes. She had loved the rush of whizzing through the air, but people were waiting for their turns. “No thanks,” she replied. “That was fun, but lots of people are waiting.”

“Hey, Char,” Avery half whispered. “Did you see how stupid I looked? I don’t know what happened. That looked so easy.”

Charlotte smiled. “It really was so much fun…kind of like flying. Are you going to try it again?”

“Not today. It has to be time for lunch. And I’m on cooking duty.” Avery took off at a jog.

“Mighty Mouse dethroned.” Maeve walked up beside Charlotte. Katani and Isabel caught up. She and the other BSG had gone to the last cartoon fest at the Movie House, and they had all agreed that Mighty Mouse reminded them of Avery.

“That had to be embarrassing for her, but Avery can’t be perfect at everything. Personally, I was sure they’d have to pull me up out of the ravine, in pieces. Did you see how many times I had to do that before I actually made it?” Maeve added dramatically.

`“Good point,” she answered as she high-fived Isabel.

“Hey look,” Katani pointed to the Flying Fox. Betsy Fitzgerald was back for more. The girls could see the “no way will I be defeated” look in her face.

“I hope she makes it,” said Isabel. “She will be really mad if she doesn’t.”

They watched as Betsy flew through the air…and fell just short of reaching the platform.

The girls could see Betsy’s lip quiver. But a determined Betsy went back for more.

“Group finger cross,” ordered Katani. Four set of hands hooked their little fingers together and crossed their fingers. “Go Betsy, go Betsy,” they chanted.

A grinning Betsy gave them a thumbs-up and went for it…across the ravine…would she make it…“Oh, yeah,” shouted Maeve. John had to scoop Betsy up, but she made it.

The four girls gave her a major whoop.

“You have to admire that girl,” Isabel proclaimed.

To the girls’ dismay, there was yet another exercise before lunch. Jody was directing people to form a line as they came back to the fire circle.

“Okay, the person in front of you is your partner,” she informed them.

Chelsea had been expecting the worst, and it happened. She was paired off with Kiki, who glared at her as if Chelsea were dirt. Chelsea walked up, set down her cameras next to Kiki, and looked plaintively at Jody. But Jody had turned her attention to a couple of the boys who were fooling around. No such luck.

Couldn’t the counselor see that a Chelsea/Kiki pairing was a disaster waiting to happen? Kiki Underwood was the snobbiest girl in the seventh grade. Even the Queens of Mean kept out of her way. Now here I am, Chelsea thought in a panic, paired with the one person most likely to make me feel really, really horrible.

Charlotte and Katani stood beside them. Charlotte could practically feel the sparks flying off Kiki.

“This is a trust exercise. Here’s the plan. One of you is going to close your eyes and fall backward. Your partner is going to catch you. Obviously in order to fall back, you have to know your partner is going to catch you. Everybody ready?”

Kiki looked as if this was the most ridiculous thing she had ever been asked to do. She wanted to refuse. But about twelve kids were watching her. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, turned into a statue, and—before she could think about it—fell back into Chelsea’s waiting arms. Chelsea had no trouble catching her. Kiki was a total lightweight in more ways than one, Isabel thought to herself. Chelsea pushed Kiki back
to her feet, and Kiki jumped away immediately.

“Okay, now switch partners, and repeat. Don’t forget to relax.”

Chelsea could see disaster coming a mile away. The Beacon Street Girls could too. But there was nothing anyone could do. How could they get Jody’s attention without embarrassing Chelsea? Charlotte tried to wave to Jody but the counselor was helping some other kids.

“No way!” Kiki practically yelled. “No way will I even try to catch Chelsea…Chelsea Bigg…oops, sorry,” she made a face. “I meant Chelsea Briggs. But, really. Is there anyone here who can catch her?”

Chelsea had had just about enough. “Okay, Ms. Kiki Underpants, so I got a weight problem,” Chelsea shouted angrily. “You don’t have to be so rude about it.”

Some kids started to laugh. No one had dared call Kiki “Ms. Underpants” since second grade. Anna and Joline laughed so loud, they began to snort. Clearly, Anna had never forgiven Kiki for trying to steal all the thunder in the talent show. Kiki was really mad. “You fat…”

Jody raced over and stepped between the two girls. “Enough, girls. This behavior is completely unacceptable. “We do not tolerate name-calling at this camp.” She ordered Kiki to partner with Tanya.

Charlotte, standing right next to Jody and Chelsea, overheard what Jody said next. “No one has to tolerate insults about the way they look. I know this is hard. But you don’t have to let Kiki’s comments bring you down. So let’s go. Things are going to change for you…I’m sure of it.”

Chelsea closed her eyes, visibly relaxed, and fell back into
Jody’s arms. Chelsea couldn’t stop a tiny smile from creeping onto her face.

Chelsea had just scored some major points with her classmates.

Later that morning, Josh Trentini told his brother, “It was a beautiful thing watching Chelsea take on Kiki ‘Underfabulous’ today.”

“Yeah, but you better not let Jody hear you calling her Kiki Underfabulous—no name-calling remember,” Billy reminded his brother.

Kiki was sitting on her bunk rebraiding her hair when Jody walked in. There was a certain look of defiance on Kiki’s perfectly sculpted face.

But Jody had been there before. Rather than sit down on Kiki’s bunk as she had planned for a heart-to-heart, Jody realized that this was a girl who needed the direct approach.

“Kiki, you seem like a smart girl so I am going to get straight to the point. It is against camp rules to taunt another camper—particularly about race, religion, or physical appearance. Are we clear about that? That is bullying, and it won’t be tolerated.”